Garvey, Morgan Team Up to Defeat Cougars
By Mike Ready
Lakewood – After having already been eliminated from winning the Class A North crown, Christian Brothers Academy achieved their next goal by beating division rival Colts Neck, 9-5, in Wednesday’s Monmouth County Tournament final at First Energy Park, Lakewood.
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“This was our second goal. Obviously our first goal was to win the division,” CBA coach Marty Kenny said. “But when we didn’t, I told the team ‘there’s still a lot of baseball ahead of us.’ Now we’re going to set our sights on the Shore Conference Tournament and there’s no reason we can’t win that; we’ll worry about the states later.”
It was the No.8 seeded Colts (12-5, 8-5) ninth appearance in the MCT finals and sixth championship in program history; first since 2007. For the third-seeded Cougars (14-4, 10-3) it was their first ever MCT final appearance in the schools 16-year history.
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CBA got to three Colts Neck pitchers for 13 hits, with eight of the nine starters having at least one hit and the top four hitters in the order combining for nine of the 13 hits.
The Colts took a quick 3-0 lead, scoring one run in the bottom of the first and two in the second. With two outs in the bottom of the first, CBA strung together three-straight singles against Colts Neck starting pitcher Robbie Warendorf (4-2). First baseman John Moshella’s line-drive single up the middle brought home right fielder Will Morgan for the first run of the game.
In the second inning, Andrew Buccellatto lined a two-out shot off second baseman Sam DeVitis’ glove for a hit before Warendorf walked Ryan Ramiz and Brnadon Martorano to load the bases. Morgan then drilled a single up the middle scoring two runs for a 3-0 lead.
Colts Neck had loaded the bases with one out against CBA starting pitcher Mike Garvey in the top of the first, but Garvey got catcher Jordon Gonzalez on a pop up to second and struck out centerfielder Mike Antico. Before striking out, Antico just missed clearing the bases when two screamers down the first base line missed being fair by inches.
The Cougars did break through on Morgan with two runs in the top of the third to make it a one-run game. Catcher Jordon Gonzalez drilled a two-out double over Morgan’s head in right-centerfield bringing home Tyler Kapuscinski, who had walked, and Gianni Magliaro, who had lined a single into right field.
However, the Colts came right back, putting up four runs in the bottom of the third to knock Warendorf out of the game and to break the game wide open.
The Colts had faced Warendorf earlier this season (April 17) beating him 3-2 and were familiar with his delivery.
“I definitely think it helped our guys a lot that they had seen him (Warendorf) before tonight,” Kenney said. “He has an unorthodox delivery, but he generates a lot of movement on his balls.”
Griffin Arnott came to bat in the bottom of the third with men on second and third with no outs and lined an opposite field two-run double down the third base line for 5-2 lead. One pitch earlier his shot to right field - that would have cleared the fences - was just foul.
After a strike out and ground out, Ramiz drilled a pitch over the left fielders head that rolled all the way to the wall for a RBI triple, scoring Arnott. Martorano brought him home with single between third and short for a five-run lead, 7-2.
Colts Neck, a come from behind team all season long, again battled back, scoring two runs in the fourth to pull within three, 7-4. Kapuscinski drilled a two out single up the middle for two runs scoring Lou Rondinella and Varile Guiseppe, both of whom had singled.
Matt Schaeffer, who had come on in relief of Warendorf with two outs in the third, tossed two-scoreless innings in the fourth and the fifth to keep the game within striking distance for Colts Neck.
The Cougars pulled to within two runs in the top of the sixth on a Rondinella single, passed ball and a two out DeVitis RBI single that dropped into short right field. Morgan came on in relief of Garvey to retire the side on a line drive out to center field.
Garvey, who has developed into a solid No.2 starter for the Colts, had a workman-like effort and pitched better than the five earned runs he gave up would indicate. He threw 106 pitches in 5 2/3 innings for 69 strikes, struck out four and walked five.
“It feels great, I really wanted to settle into that second spot behind Luca (Dalarti),” Garvey said. “With this team it’s really easy to win. I didn’t pitch that great and they put up nine runs on the board for me. This is definitely the biggest game of my career so far.”
In the bottom of the sixth, CBA tacked on two insurance runs on four consecutive singles and HBP to push the lead to 9-5 heading into the top of the seventh.
Morgan, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored from the plate, remained in the game for the seventh inning after getting the final out of the sixth on one pitch. After retiring the first batter on a lazy fly ball to left field, he walked the next two batters bringing out Kenney to try and settle him down.
“The first thing I told him was to just relax,” Kenney said. “I told him that the tying run is still in the dugout and don’t worry about the runners on base. I told him to settle down and just throw strikes like you normally do and put the ball in play.”
Kenney’s trip to the mound worked as Morgan bore down and struck out the next batter before retiring the game’s final batter on a 6-3 routine grounder.
“I’ve never really been in that position before,” said Morgan, who is in his first year as a pitcher. “To be on that mound when we win the championship is just a great feeling, there’s nothing better. Garvey threw a great game and I just wanted to get in and end it.”
Sophomore pitcher Luca Dalarti (7-0) was given the Most Valuable Player award in the tournament after winning two games. Many feel the Colts (4-5 when Dalatri’s not pitching) are a beatable team when he’s not on the mound, so Wednesday’s win proved big for a number reasons as they move forward in post season play.
In a strange twist, Colts Neck and CBA faced each other again on Thursday to complete their division schedule, with the Cougars shutting out the Colts 5-0. The win gives Colts Neck the outright Class A North championship, and a large dose of satisfaction after Wednesday night's loss.
